Ethiopia secured access to Berbera port of Somaliland from DP world

Tigrai Online, May 17, 2017

The Ethiopian government has secured 19% rights to access and use the Red Sea port of Berbera in Somaliland at which Dubai-based DP World has just started a 30-year concession, according to a spokesperson for the president of Somaliland.

The Somaliland administrative government owns about 32% of the port and the rest is DP World’s share and Ethiopia is gaining rights from the DP world.

The Dubai-based global terminal operator, which started a 30-year concession to manage the development and operation of the port in March, has allocated close to one-fifth of the port’s capacity for Ethiopian shipments, the spokesperson told media at a press conference in Hargeisa.

“We have not decided on our side. It is DP World that gave the Ethiopian government 19 percent of access and usage of the port,” said Hussein Ige Dayr at a briefing after a ceremony to celebrate the start of the DP World concession.

DP World indicated it will be investing up to $442 million in Berbera port to improve and develop infrastructure to enable trade on the African continent.

Ethiopia uses the port of Djibouti for its most of export and import shipment business. Recently state of the art railroad has been inaugurated from the port of Djibouti to the capital of Ethiopia Addis Ababa and many more are in the pipeline.

After the Eritrean government invaded northern Ethiopia in 1998 and the two countries went to war Ethiopia stopped using Eritrean ports which could have been beneficial for both countries.  Due to the arrogance of the Eritrean government and constant attempt to destabilize Ethiopia, the two countries are in a state of heighten tension.

The Ethiopian people will be delighted to hear this news, finally the Horn of Africa is coming together for mutual benefit and development.